Add to folder successful

About this video

How does recycling work?

How does recycling work?

Discover why plastic is harmful to our environment and how recycling helps to reduce its impact. Listen to Jon Dee, founder of Planet Ark, discuss the problem of plastic. Watch as a bag of household items are sorted to identify what can be recycled.

Things to think about

1

Before viewing

What things around you are made from plastic?

What do you know about the interesting characteristics (properties) of plastics? Are they flexible, waterproof, strong or transparent?

Why is plastic so harmful to our environment?

2

As you view

Watch as the 'hippies' poke a pencil through the plastic bag of water. Explain what happens (think about the properties of plastics).

What does Jon Dee from Planet Ark say is the problem with plastic? What solution does he give?

3

After viewing

When deciding if a plastic item is recyclable what do you need to look for?

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and High Density Polyethylene HDPE are two types of plastic commonly recycled. Find a soft drink bottle made from PET and a plastic milk bottle made from HDPE. Ask an adult to help you cut small squares of each bottle and mix them up. Place them in water, what do you observe? What property helps you sort them?

4

Next steps

Draw a table listing things that can and can't be recycled. Include the items shown in the clip as well as adding some of your own.

Transcript

00:00:03:16MAN:Test tubes and fantastic discoveries of the world!00:00:07:20MAN 2:Dropping science on them. Dropping science on them.00:00:18:17BERNIE:# How many roads must a man walk down # Before you can call him a man? # Yo, brother. #00:00:27:10RUBEN:Peace, dudes. Hey, this week's show is rubbish, man.00:00:30:08BERNE:Huh?00:00:31:23RUBEN:No, man. I don't mean the show is rubbish. I mean it's about rubbish, man.00:00:35:19BERNIE:Oh, nice one, dude. That's right, it's all about rubbish like this.00:00:39:15RUBEN:Whoa. What is it, dude?00:00:41:12BERNIE:It's just an ordinary plastic bag filled with coloured water. We all know that plastic is evil unnatural, but check this out.00:00:48:18RUBEN:Whoa, dude. You're going to mess up my rug.00:00:50:24BERNIE:Trust me, dude. Just watch.00:00:52:24RUBEN:Whoa, tripping-dicular, dude. What's the trick?00:00:55:19BERNIE:There is no trick. Plastic is just so indestructible that it stretches rather than tears, so as you poke the pencil through it stretches around it making a perfectly evil watertight seal.00:01:09:03RUBEN:Wow, man. That's pretty cool. In a totally uncool kind of way, man. What happens if you take one of the pencils out, man?00:01:15:03BERNIE:This!00:01:16:05RUBEN:Oh, dude. Your bag is peeing on my rug, man!00:01:20:01BERNIE:Oh, chill out, man. It's only water.00:01:22:23RUBEN:Oh, wow. Now, that's just plain unnatural, man.00:01:24:13BERNIE:Well, plastic is unnatural and evil and way too much of it is getting into our environment.00:01:30:19RUBEN:Boo, man, boo. Well, let's see what we can do about it, man.00:01:35:05BERNIE:Yeah.00:01:54:23BERNIE:Wow, this place is a dump, man.00:01:56:20RUBEN:Yeah. Nice one, dude. We're at Australia's biggest recycling plant and we're here to meet the totally righteous dude who founded Planet Ark.00:02:04:14BERNIE:Jon Dee.00:02:06:01JON DEE:Hey, guys. Great to meet you. Welcome to the recycling facility.00:02:08:24BERNIE:Thank you so much. I'm never going to wash this hand again.00:02:12:02RUBEN:But you never do, anyway, man.00:02:14:04BERNIE:Jon, why is plastic so evil?00:02:17:19JON DEE:Well, plastic itself is not really evil, but the way we use it is often really stupid. We take something that can last for hundreds of years and we use it just once and then we throw it in the garbage.00:02:27:01RUBEN:That's pretty dumb, man.00:02:27:24BERNIE:And uncool.00:02:28:21JON DEE:Yeah, so what we should be doing with plastics and other materials is make sure that we recycle as much as we can.00:02:34:13RUBEN:We recycle everything, dude.00:02:35:21JON DEE:Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second. Now, this is a big mistake. You never put your recyclables into a plastic bag because this kind of plastic bag can clog up the machinery at this recycling plant. And all those recyclables in there, well, they won't end up getting recycled if they're in this.00:02:51:07RUBEN:Dude, we did not know that.00:02:52:15JON DEE:Well, there you go. What else have you got in here, guys?00:02:55:07BERNIE:We've got last week's Organic Gardener.00:02:56:21JON DEE:Yeah, cool.00:02:58:04BERNIE:A soy milk organic container.00:03:00:06JON DEE:This is an interesting thing. Have you guys ever noticed the number on the bottom of these plastic bottles? This is Number 2. That and Number 1 can be recycled in most places around Australia. But numbers 3 to 7, you often can't recycle them so you need to check with your local council.00:03:14:23RUBEN:Dude, we did not know that either, man.00:03:16:10JON DEE:Well, there you go. What else have you got in here?00:03:18:20BERNIE:We've got this old broken light bulb and this cracked wine glass.00:03:23:04JON DEE:Well, this kind of glass and ovenproof glass, you can't recycle them. And just a small amount of these can stop a whole tonne of normal glass from being recycled.00:03:31:14BERNIE:But why, Jon? They're all just made of glass.00:03:34:14JON DEE:These things melt at a different temperature to glass jars and glass bottles so you can't recycle them.00:03:39:21BERNIE:Oh, man. Recycling is so complex. We're never going to get it.00:03:43:05RUBEN:Dude, we've failed you, Jon.00:03:44:22JON DEE:You know what, you haven't really. recycling is really easy. All you have to do is go to our website recyclingnearyou.com.au That's recyclingnearyou.com.au Type in your postcode and we'll tell you everything that you can recycle in your local area.00:03:59:17BERNIE:Wow. I'm going to knit me a computer right now.00:04:02:15RUBEN:Yeah, you really are a recycling super guru, dude.00:04:05:11JON DEE:Great to have you here, guys.00:04:06:19BERNIE:Thanks, Jon. We've learnt so much about recycling form you today that as a show of thanks we want to sing you a little song.00:04:13:04JON DEE:Oh, great.00:04:14:06BERNIE:Hit it! # How many cans can a recycling van # Turn back into an aluminium can # Yes, and how many bags can a turtle snag # Before it sinks to the sand # The answer, my friend, is don't put it in this bin # Put it in the other bin the recycling bin # With the yellow lid. # One more time!00:04:42:07RUBEN:Yeah!

For teachers

Year 4 Science Strand: Science UnderstandingSubstrand: Chemical sciencesContent code: ACSSU074Description: Natural and processed materials have a range of physical properties; These properties can influence their use

Year 4 Science Strand: Science as a Human EndeavourSubstrand: Use and influence of scienceContent code: ACSHE062Description: Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions

What to view next:

How does recycling work?

Overview

Discover why plastic is harmful to our environment and how recycling helps to reduce its impact. Listen to Jon Dee, founder of Planet Ark, discuss the problem of plastic. Watch as a bag of household items are sorted to identify what can be recycled.

Things to think about

Before viewing

What do you know about the interesting characteristics (properties) of plastics? Are they flexible, waterproof, strong or transparent?

Why is plastic so harmful to our environment?

2

As you view

Watch as the 'hippies' poke a pencil through the plastic bag of water. Explain what happens (think about the properties of plastics).

What does Jon Dee from Planet Ark say is the problem with plastic? What solution does he give?

3

After viewing

When deciding if a plastic item is recyclable what do you need to look for?

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and High Density Polyethylene HDPE are two types of plastic commonly recycled. Find a soft drink bottle made from PET and a plastic milk bottle made from HDPE. Ask an adult to help you cut small squares of each bottle and mix them up. Place them in water, what do you observe? What property helps you sort them?

4

Next steps

Draw a table listing things that can and can't be recycled. Include the items shown in the clip as well as adding some of your own.

Transcript

00:00:03:16MAN:Test tubes and fantastic discoveries of the world!00:00:07:20MAN 2:Dropping science on them. Dropping science on them.00:00:18:17BERNIE:# How many roads must a man walk down # Before you can call him a man? # Yo, brother. #00:00:27:10RUBEN:Peace, dudes. Hey, this week's show is rubbish, man.00:00:30:08BERNE:Huh?00:00:31:23RUBEN:No, man. I don't mean the show is rubbish. I mean it's about rubbish, man.00:00:35:19BERNIE:Oh, nice one, dude. That's right, it's all about rubbish like this.00:00:39:15RUBEN:Whoa. What is it, dude?00:00:41:12BERNIE:It's just an ordinary plastic bag filled with coloured water. We all know that plastic is evil unnatural, but check this out.00:00:48:18RUBEN:Whoa, dude. You're going to mess up my rug.00:00:50:24BERNIE:Trust me, dude. Just watch.00:00:52:24RUBEN:Whoa, tripping-dicular, dude. What's the trick?00:00:55:19BERNIE:There is no trick. Plastic is just so indestructible that it stretches rather than tears, so as you poke the pencil through it stretches around it making a perfectly evil watertight seal.00:01:09:03RUBEN:Wow, man. That's pretty cool. In a totally uncool kind of way, man. What happens if you take one of the pencils out, man?00:01:15:03BERNIE:This!00:01:16:05RUBEN:Oh, dude. Your bag is peeing on my rug, man!00:01:20:01BERNIE:Oh, chill out, man. It's only water.00:01:22:23RUBEN:Oh, wow. Now, that's just plain unnatural, man.00:01:24:13BERNIE:Well, plastic is unnatural and evil and way too much of it is getting into our environment.00:01:30:19RUBEN:Boo, man, boo. Well, let's see what we can do about it, man.00:01:35:05BERNIE:Yeah.00:01:54:23BERNIE:Wow, this place is a dump, man.00:01:56:20RUBEN:Yeah. Nice one, dude. We're at Australia's biggest recycling plant and we're here to meet the totally righteous dude who founded Planet Ark.00:02:04:14BERNIE:Jon Dee.00:02:06:01JON DEE:Hey, guys. Great to meet you. Welcome to the recycling facility.00:02:08:24BERNIE:Thank you so much. I'm never going to wash this hand again.00:02:12:02RUBEN:But you never do, anyway, man.00:02:14:04BERNIE:Jon, why is plastic so evil?00:02:17:19JON DEE:Well, plastic itself is not really evil, but the way we use it is often really stupid. We take something that can last for hundreds of years and we use it just once and then we throw it in the garbage.00:02:27:01RUBEN:That's pretty dumb, man.00:02:27:24BERNIE:And uncool.00:02:28:21JON DEE:Yeah, so what we should be doing with plastics and other materials is make sure that we recycle as much as we can.00:02:34:13RUBEN:We recycle everything, dude.00:02:35:21JON DEE:Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second. Now, this is a big mistake. You never put your recyclables into a plastic bag because this kind of plastic bag can clog up the machinery at this recycling plant. And all those recyclables in there, well, they won't end up getting recycled if they're in this.00:02:51:07RUBEN:Dude, we did not know that.00:02:52:15JON DEE:Well, there you go. What else have you got in here, guys?00:02:55:07BERNIE:We've got last week's Organic Gardener.00:02:56:21JON DEE:Yeah, cool.00:02:58:04BERNIE:A soy milk organic container.00:03:00:06JON DEE:This is an interesting thing. Have you guys ever noticed the number on the bottom of these plastic bottles? This is Number 2. That and Number 1 can be recycled in most places around Australia. But numbers 3 to 7, you often can't recycle them so you need to check with your local council.00:03:14:23RUBEN:Dude, we did not know that either, man.00:03:16:10JON DEE:Well, there you go. What else have you got in here?00:03:18:20BERNIE:We've got this old broken light bulb and this cracked wine glass.00:03:23:04JON DEE:Well, this kind of glass and ovenproof glass, you can't recycle them. And just a small amount of these can stop a whole tonne of normal glass from being recycled.00:03:31:14BERNIE:But why, Jon? They're all just made of glass.00:03:34:14JON DEE:These things melt at a different temperature to glass jars and glass bottles so you can't recycle them.00:03:39:21BERNIE:Oh, man. Recycling is so complex. We're never going to get it.00:03:43:05RUBEN:Dude, we've failed you, Jon.00:03:44:22JON DEE:You know what, you haven't really. recycling is really easy. All you have to do is go to our website recyclingnearyou.com.au That's recyclingnearyou.com.au Type in your postcode and we'll tell you everything that you can recycle in your local area.00:03:59:17BERNIE:Wow. I'm going to knit me a computer right now.00:04:02:15RUBEN:Yeah, you really are a recycling super guru, dude.00:04:05:11JON DEE:Great to have you here, guys.00:04:06:19BERNIE:Thanks, Jon. We've learnt so much about recycling form you today that as a show of thanks we want to sing you a little song.00:04:13:04JON DEE:Oh, great.00:04:14:06BERNIE:Hit it! # How many cans can a recycling van # Turn back into an aluminium can # Yes, and how many bags can a turtle snag # Before it sinks to the sand # The answer, my friend, is don't put it in this bin # Put it in the other bin the recycling bin # With the yellow lid. # One more time!00:04:42:07RUBEN:Yeah!

For teachers

Science: Year 4Strand: Science UnderstandingSubstrand: Chemical sciencesContent code: ACSSU074Content description:Natural and processed materials have a range of physical properties; These properties can influence their use

Science: Year 4Strand: Science as a Human EndeavourSubstrand: Use and influence of scienceContent code: ACSHE062Content description:Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions